Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - 88 Seconds In Greensboro Lyrics

Underrated song should have been a single this one

40 years ago today.

wow, and still great, i had a video of Crush the Movie, but now not have a videorecoder haha

Tipical OMD. opens up our sad narrow minds

OMD goes to the dark side and comes out with their best song (IMO, of course).

the way jazz basses used to sound when they weighed a ton and rocked like a mother.

Quentisential OMD

the bassline in this song unusually reminds me of Hooky (of Joy Division/New Order)

Well, Andy was in awe of JD since they were both on Factory. There's an NME interview with him in 1980 in which he worries that OMD would never hold their own against JD. And, of course, he was right.

Really? Which? Where?,post it please

they lost control

TEN DEAD COMMIES that's a start

The '88' seconds is the time it took for the KKK to shoot up a peace rally in Greensboro. It became the title of a documentary on British TV.

Imagine how dumb someone has to be to take 1970s Greensboro cops' word re: the KKK vs people fighting for the rights of black workers. I know yr pappy sez "communism" is a scary word but you couldn't explain Marxism to me for a million dollars, go back to your memes.

Love da Bass!

Always loved this album since 1988, especially this song. Had no idea there was a video for it! Love the YouTube! And the video is roughly what I imagined the song was about.

Oh yes, racism will die out with the passing of generations..if only it was true.I live in the state of mind that calls itself Texas, and trust me it continues on, sadly churches on every corner and guns to match ,thank you Andy for a great song wishing the subject were of another

lol "I ain't never met nobody who ain't jes' like me an' I intend to keep 'er that way! Yeeehaw!"

One of those rare "Rock out" OMD songs!I like the part; theyre heading for a shallow grave... stabbed in the back by a man they met!

I was 4 when this occurred & can't remember anything about it. Kudos to Andy for writing the song & ensuring people heard about the massacre.

The Internet is a wonderful thing. I had the album this track was on and always loved it, but had no idea what it what about. Then it popped up on Spotify today and I decided to check. Fuck the KKK and I'm happy to be enlightened to what drove the writing of it. What with Enola Gay, it seems like OMD were way more political than I ever naively imagined.

I can not stand that they always leave 88 Seconds In Greensboro and Secret of greatest hits and compilation cd's .

@marci mars it's one of their BEST!

@marci mars Agreed Marci it's one of their best imho.

crush is one of my favorite albums

Some tough chords huh!

Two chords and it still sounds great to me.

No one cares what the nobody wannabe musician thinks about a rock/pop song's structure.

REALLY??? I always thought it was just a lyric about the band being in the tour bus, and breezing through all these nearly anonymous, generic small towns in the middle of nowhere. "What town are we in now?" "We just entered Greensboro....wait...hold on...we just left Greensboro." Damn. I've been in love with this song for 30 years, and only just learning the lyric's true meaning? Daaaaaamn!

Some haunting shit!

I like the song, but I'm not crazy for the video LOL

One of the most atypical OMD songs, recorded at the time in 1 take and you hear it - spontaneous and powerful. And why does Andy remind me so much of the Clash singer in this clip?

Did the workers fire upon the KKK? Were the KKK forced to turn up?

There is a massive difference between rhetoric and rifles.

But those damn commies huh?

What a lot of people usually don't know, it was at a rally march of workers & Communists against the KKK. Communist publicly challenged the Klan to present themselves & "face the wrath of the people." So it was 2 extremist groups against one another & Greensboro didn't provide proper security & police. The city was so embarrassed by it that when it was reviewed with other racial problems 10 years later, all the police records from the event were missing. I'm from GBO and remember it all.

Such awesome memories..had thia album crush..played it loads before i went out in the 80s

This is my all time favourite OMD song. It really showed a different more powerful side of the group.

Yes you right, this is really a great song.

Never liked this, it was too simple

this was one my fave cuts off the album. didn't know a video was made for it. too cool.

Love that guitar Andy's playing, especially the headstock ! it's a Ibanez AS-100 from the 80s I believe, wish I knew where to get one !

@Jimjam1212

Five protest marchers were shot and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party at a place called Greensboro, North Carolina on November 3, 1979. Eleven others were wounded

lol knew some piece of shit would be here making excuses for Nazis, at least they have Alt Right in their username to warn us all they're not that bright

always blaming the communist

What is the song actually about?
not meaning to be ignorant.

There was a "Death to the Klan" rally organized by the Communist Worker's Party on the black side of town, in the projects, in a city called Greensboro, in North Carolina. The Klan showed up at the rally and pulled out guns- the shooting lasted 88 seconds and a number of people were killed. This video uses footage from that time and the rally.

One of the most disgusting incidents in US history and it takes a UK band to pay homage via song. Thank you OMD!!!!!

A great band from Greensboro called The Othermothers also did a song about it first. This video is from one of their reunion gigs a few years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZnqVgcjkl4

it's amazing what you can do with only 2 chords! I love this song. it has such power with or without the imagery behind it.

brilliant ,thank you for putting this great song up

Sheer genius. This song is bloody superb!

That bloody red jacket doesn't harm Andy's charm anyway!!!! xxx